


The Palms of Two Hands

by Ryuutchi



Category: Vampire Geomsa | Vampire Prosecutor
Genre: Episode Related, Extended Scene, Gen, Homoerotic Mantouching, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 08:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/595727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryuutchi/pseuds/Ryuutchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>두 손뼉이 맞아야 소리가 난다 | The palms of two hands must meet to make a sound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Palms of Two Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fiftyzillion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiftyzillion/gifts).



> Mucho appreciation to M, without whom this could not have been written.
> 
> Takes place during Episode 7 of the first season, with spoilers through Episode 10.

Min Tae Yeon stumbled forward, lurching and off-balance. The sliding door, already locked for the night, did not open with its usual obliging mechanical whir. The glass took the brunt of Tae Yeon's weight, but it was too slippery under his blood-smeared palm to keep him upright. Tae Yeon had used most of his strength and self-control to get himself to the bar.

La Jae Wook had only just been turning out the lights. The sound that the glass made under the sudden weight of Tae Yeon's desperation was enough to banish Jae Wook's fatigue in a single, heart-stopping moment. Jae Wook was across the room and half way out of his shirt before he realized he was moving. Even through the tinted glass of the sliding door, Jae Wook could see that Min Tae Yeon was pale. As Tae Yeon gave in to gravity and collapsed on the stairs in front of the door, Jae Wook fell to his knees and fumbled the lock open. Jae Wook's mind raced, his instincts from years of medical residency and triage kicking in, as he leveraged his weight to pull the door open.

"Doctor," Min Tae Yeon groaned painfully, as Jae Wook took hold of him by the arms and began to hoist him onto his back. Tae Yeon's voice was so weak against Jae Wook's shoulder, it was practically inaudible. It was unnerving to feel no heartbeat in the chest against his back.

Jae Wook made a sound low in his throat, and his fingers tightened around Min Tae Yeon’s arm. He didn’t bother to respond, but focused on saving his breath to carry Tae Yeon across the bar to the largest table available. Jae Wook wasn’t entirely certain Tae Yeon could even hear or comprehend him through the haze and urgency of his hunger. Acutely aware of the vampire’s lips close to his throat, Jae Wook brushed aside the largest table’s clutter with a careless sweep of his arms and slung Tae Yeon down onto it. Sucking in a breath between his teeth, Jae Wook centered himself, and focused on the wound in Min Tae Yeon’s side. Tae Yeon had lost a lot of blood getting to the club, and was visibly struggling to maintain control of his senses. 

Jae Wook gently used the fingers of one hand to probe the wound - a clean, small cut, made by a very sharp blade, he decided. Tae Yeon arched and made a sound that was half groan, half growl, baring his fangs as his eyes blazed. At first Jae Wook couldn’t look away, searching Tae Yeon’s pained, desperate face. Some scientific part of Jae Wook’s mind wondered if the intense sapphire glow of the vampire’s eyes had evolved as a means to entrance prey, as well as to intimidate them. He grimaced and cradled Min Tae Yeon’s head, supporting him from the neck as he forced his gaze from Tae Yeon’s face to the wound in his side. 

Jae Wook pressed one hand to Tae Yeon’s chest, pushing him back onto the table. La Jae Wook read his own fear in Min Tae Yeon’s eyes - fear that Tae Yeon’s predatory instincts would take over and attack - mixed with fierce trust in Jae Wook’s ability to help him. Jae Wook _would_ help him. Min Tae Yeon gasped, arching in pain and forcing himself to under control. Once Jae Wook was convinced that Tae Yeon wouldn’t blindly go after the only living person in the bar, he turned toward the small refrigerator he kept stocked with bags of blood.

Turning his back on a vampire, even for a moment, sent Jae Wook’s heart into his throat. He swiped the first two bags he touched from the chiller, choosing expedience over precision and crushing them together in his hands to pop them open. 

****

“Prosecutor, what? Come again?” Hwang Soon Bum’s expressive face fell as he held the phone to his ear. Yoo Jeong In’s voice was shaky, punctuating what she said with spikes of tension.

“Prosecutor Min was stabbed,” she said, and as she spoke her words came faster, pitching up in barely-restrained panic. “He was stabbed, at the hospital! But he left, he’s just -- he’s gone!”

Soon Bum felt a lead knot coil tightly in his stomach. His voice faltered. “Stabbed?! And blood came out?” It was an inane question, but it filled the air while Soon Bum thought it through - what to say, what to do, where to go. Min Tae Yeon was stabbed. Bleeding! Soon Bum needed to move; he started walking.

“He’s gone,” Jeong In said again. “He left, Detective; he was at the hospital, but he left.”

“It’s okay,” Soon Bum said, “Min Tae Yeon will be okay.”

“He left,” Jeong In insisted, and Soon Bum knew she was stuck - baffled by Tae Yeon’s actions, and afraid. 

“Calm down, Yoo Jeong In, it’s okay, I -” Soon Bum forced the fear from his voice, “I know which doctor he went to. He has a private doctor, I’m sure he went there. Where are you?”

There was a pause on the line, and Soon Bum could hear her draw in a deliberate breath. She steadied herself. “I’m still doing the paperwork,” Jeong In said, sounding slightly dazed.

“Paperwork!” Soon Bum scoffed. He tried to sound casual, already moving across the lot to his car. “Get that part-timer to finish the paperwork. You’re in shock, Yoo Jeung In, that’s serious. Go home! Get some rest!”

“But --”

“Please? Listen to your elder this once; I know where Prosecutor Min went. I’m going there now. This guy’s a real specialist doctor, the boss will be back to work in no time. You just get some rest, and let old Soon Bum take care of everything.” 

Soon Bum’s car roared to life, and he slammed the car into reverse. As he shot out of the lot and onto the street, he said again: “Min Tae Yeon will be okay.”

It was as much to soothe his own nerves as hers.

****

La Jae Wook turned back to Min Tae Yeon, who was still writhing weakly on the table with his hands outstretched.

“You’re alright, Prosecutor,” Jae Wook said, hoping that using Tae Yeon’s title would keep him grounded within his senses. “Drink thi-”

Tae Yeon’s grip on Jae Wook’s wrist was as cold and inescapable as an iron vice. Jae Wook may as well have not opened the blood bags at all - Min Tae Yeon tore into the first bag with his teeth and drank in long, hungry gulps. Jae Wook wrapped his free arm around Tae Yeon’s back and struggled to keep from trembling as he held Tae Yeon partially upright. Jae Wook felt when the first round of healing began, rippling through Tae Yeon’s muscles as he sagged against Jae Wook’s chest. 

A fat drop of blood leaked from the corner of Min Tae Yeon’s mouth, drawing a bright red line over his jaw and along his neck. Jae Wook watched, absorbed in a mixture of wonder and horror, as Tae Yeon swallowed greedily, the cording muscles in his neck re-directing the stream of blood towards the dip at the center of his collar bone. In under a minute, the first bag was dry. As soon as the bag was empty, Tae Yeon tore it from Jae Wook’s hands and tossed it aside, not caring where the plastic landed. Tae Yeon bit into the second bag with a rasping hiss that was utterly inhuman, and Jae Wook braced them both for the next wave of blood to move through him.

Min Tae Yeon groaned and twisted in Jae Wook’s arms, spasming as his body began to repair the damage done to it from the inside out. The pain of physical healing nearly caused Tae Yeon to twist himself out of Jae Wook's arms. It took all of Jae Wook's strength to push Tae Yeon back down against the table, and hold him in place until wracking pain of healing burnt itself out and the worst of the physical damage began to fade.

The sound that Min Tae Yeon made then was almost a sob, as he slumped back on the table with his eyes still open and terrifyingly vivid blue. Tae Yeon struggled to maintain control, forcing himself to continually pull his gaze away from the thick veins in Jae Wook’s arms and neck. For both of their sakes, Jae Wook withdrew and let Tae Yeon - still in obvious pain - slump back against the table. Dropping the second empty bag, Jae Wook returned to the blood chiller, again turning his back on the vampire.

A purposeful sound at the door interrupted Jae Wook’s focus; it was nothing like Tae Yeon's weight collapsing against the glass. Jae Wook half-turned in an instant, a third bag in hand, almost expecting Min Tae Yeon to be at his throat. Only then did he realize he'd left the blood-smeared door partially open in his haste.

"Oh, shit! Tae Yeon!" Hwang Soon Bum stumbled a few steps into the club, his gaze darting from Jae Wook to Tae Yeon and back.

"You have enough blood, yeah?" Soon Bum said, shrugging out of his coat as he barrelled his way across the bar. Soon Bum met Jae Wook at Tae Yeon’s side, rolling up his sleeves even as Jae Wook pushed the blood bag into Tae Yeon’s hand.

“You drink up, Tae Yeon-ah,” Soon Bum said, kneeling by his friend’s side. “Soon Bum is here. I have plenty, so you can have my blood if we run out. I’m ready!”

Tae Yeon didn’t answer but shook his head, drinking from the bag in long gulps. The blood was visibly helping him recover, but exhaustion from the shock was starting to set in. To Soon Bum, Tae Yeon looked as though he could barely keep his head up off the table without support.

“Help me hold him down,” Jae Wook said, already shifting most of his weight onto Tae Yeon’s left shoulder.

“Hold him down? But he’s pale as a ghost!” Soon Bum started to argue, when another surge of muscle spasms saw Min Tae Yeon lurch to the side, in danger of falling off the table. Tae Yeon made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a growl, and began to rise, his eyes flickering between blue and brown.

Soon Bum immediately put his weight onto Tae Yeon’s right shoulder and said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Don't you dare sit up, Tae Yeon-ah!"

Together, the two managed to keep Tae Yeon safely in place. When his spasms finally ended, Min Tae Yeon had stopped bleeding. Almost immediately, he passed out in their arms.

“Tae Yeon-ah!” Soon Bum said, terror breaking his voice on the last syllable. He cradled Tae Yeon’s head in one big hand, looking up at Jae Wook in distress when Tae Yeon didn’t respond.

“He’s okay,” said Jae Wook, his arms suddenly heavy with relief. “He’s alright, Detective. He just needs to get cleaned up and go to sleep. Help me move him.”

With renewed focus, Soon Bum nodded. For the first time since the commotion started, they both looked around the bar. With a practiced gaze, Hwang Soon Bum took in the trails of blood, the mess of broken bottles, and the empty blood bags. "Hmph. What this place looks like," he said. “He isn’t the only thing that needs cleaning.”

Jae Wook clucked his tongue at the damage, and shrugged a shoulder up. “I have bleach behind the bar, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one of us who knows how to clean up blood. We need to get Min Tae Yeon into a comfortable position, so he can rest easy.” 

Soon Bum’s brows furrowed low at the center of his forehead, but only briefly. Normally he was the type to complain about an easy assumption that he would help with such a chore. This time, the hesitation served to emphasize the breadth of his smile when he held his hands out.

“Doctor,” Soon Bum said, “for the friend of my friend Min Tae Yeon, I’ll use these two hands any way I can.”

An uncomfortable expression flashed across La Jae Wook’s face, and was quickly hidden. He only nodded in reply, before moving to carry Min Tae Yeon.

Soon Bum and Jae Wook slid their arms underneath Tae Yeon’s body, carefully lifting him from the table. Tae Yeon initially shifted his weight in their grip, but was otherwise disconcertingly lifeless. Soon Bum did not like that, if not for that small movement, Tae Yeon could just as easily have been a corpse - and had nearly been made a permanent one, at that. As they maneuvered him down the back hall of the bar, Soon Bum studied Jae Wook’s face, trying to decipher the guilt his instincts and his eyes told him was there. 

“You know, he trusts you,” Soon Bum said, using his most pleasant voice, trying to get a read.

Jae Wook flinched, only barely, and hid it well by jerking his chin. 

“Put him there,” he said brusquely, effectively ignoring Soon Bum’s intense appraising look. With his shoulder, Jae Wook brushed aside the curtain that divided a private space from the main area, revealing a small room with a couch long enough for Tae Yeon to lay on comfortably. 

Together, Soon Bum and Jae Wook maneuvered their way into the room and settled Min Tae Yeon down on the cushions. Soon Bum patted Tae Yeon’s shoulder companionably. “Don’t worry,” he said, “we’ll get this straightened up and put you to bed soon.”

Jae Wook leaned over Min Tae Yeon, pushing Tae Yeon’s blood-stained shirt up and checking the fading remnants of the wound. He nodded to himself, running his hands lightly across Tae Yeon’s abdomen, on alert for any little scrapes, unhealed bruising or swelling. It had been a very close call for Tae Yeon, to leave him still in such poor condition. Jae Wook knew that he would likely be unsteady for at least another day.

Taking a moment to refocus, Jae Wook remembered the scope of their situation, and looked up at Soon Bum before tossing a glance toward the mess in the bar. 

“We’re bound to attract attention soon. You’re the only detective we need right now,” Jae Wook said, looking down at his patient and then back up at Soon Bum. “Do you mind? The bleach is behind the bar, to the left.”

Soon Bum shrugged and held up his hands. “Eh? Aah! Of course, we wouldn’t want you to be arrested for being a suspicious-looking person, would we?”

“Or anyone else,” Jae Wook said, watching Soon Bum pat Tae Yeon’s shoulder once more before he left them. 

Soon Bum nodded to himself as he ducked back out of the private room and down the hall. Hwang Soon Bum’s search for the bleach was, as was generally the case with him, swift but loud. The sight of the table Tae Yeon had been stretched out on, bleeding, gave Soon Bum’s every movement a sense of directness and urgency. He wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of finding Min Tae Yeon’s bloodstains.

Jae Wook sighed heavily, and turned his attention back to the sleeping Min Tae Yeon. Jae Wook rose and moved through a locked door into a supply closet with a small sink where he chose and wet a clean bar towel. Tae Yeon wasn’t breathing, though there were a few drops of sweat mingling with the blood on his face, neck, and chest. With a cautious but steady hand, Jae Wook began to wipe Tae Yeon’s skin clean. Jae Wook profoundly needed to take responsibility for the mess he’d gotten Tae Yeon into, and he’d resolved to get him out of it. Wiping the mess of blood from Tae Yeon’s skin was the very least Jae Wook felt that he could do. 

After cleaning Tae Yeon’s face and chest, Jae Wook used the cloth to gently remove any lingering traces of blood from beneath Tae Yeon’s fingernails. Soon Bum moved the curtain out of the way and stepped back into the private room. “Is something wrong, or are you taking your time?”

Jae Wook gave Tae Yeon’s hands one last pass with the towel and set it down, looking up at Soon Bum. “You work quickly.”

Soon Bum shrugged - an expansive gesture. “And they say the police can be lazy,” he said, almost absently. Relieved to see that Tae Yeon looked less pale, Soon Bum reached over and plucked at the torn and blood-soaked shirt Tae Yeon still wore. “Look at this. We’ll have to get him into something clean when we take him home. You’re helping me to help me move him, right, Doc?”

Jae Wook regarded Soon Bum with a weak but patient smile, and nodded.

***

It didn’t take them long to maneuver Min Tae Yeon and some emergency rations into Soon Bum’s car. Soon Bum kept up a running commentary about the state of the traffic and the neighborhood - not exactly nervous, but relieved to have something to fill the time it took to get Tae Yeon home. He drove with the easy efficiency of someone on a familiar path in familiar territory.

Jae Wook listened, gazing out the window and trying not to think about Min Tae Yeon’s predicament. Tae Yeon was lucky to have a partner like Hwang Soon Bum, who would offer his own blood to save Tae Yeon’s life without a second thought. Jae Wook’s mistakes had thrown Min Tae Yeon into a world of blood and pain and even though Jae Wook had vowed to do everything in his power to help mitigate what he’d done, Soon Bum’s presence was a much-needed relief.

After some scuffling and confusion between the car and Tae Yeon’s door, Soon Bum found Tae Yeon’s keys in his left-front pocket and removed them without protest. Once safely inside and out of their shoes, Jae Wook supported Tae Yeon while Soon Bum threw back the duvet. Together they set Tae Yeon on the edge of the bed. Soon Bum held him by the shoulders while Jae Wook wrestled the torn shirt off. Laying Tae Yeon down on the cushions, Jae Wook watched as Soon Bum crossed the room for something clean to put him in. 

Min Tae Yeon, Soon Bum knew after seeing the inside of his closet, was a man of many clothes. He returned with a fresh white cotton tee. With cooperative effort, they pulled Tae Yeon’s arms through the sleeves of his shirt.

“We might change his pants too,” Jae Wook said, as his eyes met Soon Bum’s. They looked at each other and then at Tae Yeon, before both looked away, smiling. 

“Or we might not,” said Soon Bum awkwardly. “Let’s not.”

Jae Wook tugged Tae Yeon’s shirt down, nodding.

With a flourish, Soon Bum pulled the blanket over Tae Yeon. “Come on,” he said, “We’d better let him rest, huh? Min Tae Yeon needs his beauty sleep or he won’t be pretty enough to go to work.” 

While Soon Bum busied himself fluffing pillows, Jae Wook went to Tae Yeon’s empty refrigerator.

“When he wakes up, he’ll need more blood,” Jae Wook said, reaching in to adjust the temperature settings. “I brought what I had for him, but he’ll need more soon, Detective.”

“Yeah?” Soon Bum hesitated, smoothing a wrinkle from the covers as he tucked them up around Tae Yeon’s chin.

Jae Wook paused, turning to looking at Tae Yeon’s unmoving body. He chose his words carefully. When Jae Wook spoke, he caught and held Soon Bum’s gaze. “I can take your... donations,” he said, “If Min Tae Yeon still trusts me.”

“From here, it looks like he’s not wrong,” said Hwang Soon Bum, walking across the room to the window. He watched a city bus make its approach down the street outside. “To trust the mysterious Doctor La.”

There was a quiet gentleness in Soon Bum’s voice. For a long moment La Jae Wook stood with his hand on the door knob.

“Make sure Prosecutor Min eats and rests well when he wakes up, Detective.” Jae Wook said. “He needs to be well, to do such important work.”


End file.
